My dumb hockey questions

[Blob]

I've been watching hockey for a long time, and like many people, I've played a little as well. Having said that, I have a few questions that I'd like answered.

What better way to get answers than to ask HF Boards?

1. Why do people describe some players as "streaky scorers"?

Being streaky is statistically normal. What would be extremely unlikely is a 80 point player who got 1 point per game for 80 games. That's probably never happened. Streaky is the norm.

2. What the hell is a "bag skate"?

3. Why do people (some people) dislike other teams so much? I love the Canucks and want them to win. But I like other teams and players too. For example, I have a big man-crush on Iginla. Always have.

4. Why is there so much trouble in the world? North Korea should get a hockey team, and stop all that nuclear nonsense.

Enlighten me, HFBoards!

Sincerely,

Blob.

Click to read more...

 

[BassMason]

2. What the hell is a "bag skate"?


The bag skate is when the coach, usually extremely frustrated with his players, makes everyone on the team put a paper bag over their heads and skate around the ice as fast as they can.

 

[KidCanuck*]

1) A streaky scorer is players that put up points while being naked.

 

[PG Canuck]

1. Players are called streaky because they do hot for say five or so games, then completely disappear the next. What you said though, does make everyone streaky, but I think the term streaky player is more of a player that does good, then disappears for a while. The top stars like Sedins, Giroux, Crosby, Malkin etc don't usually disappear for five or more games. Streaky is someone like David Booth, for a hometown example.

2. A bag skate is where the coach has every player skate lines (goal line, blue line, red line, blue line, goal line). When I played hockey and when we did a bag skate, we started on the goal line, skated to the blue line (stop), skate back to the goal line (stop), skate to the red line back to goal line and keeping do this until you've gone goal line to goal line. I'm sure NHL coaches have different variations though.

3. People usually hate a player (or all, in Canucks' cases) so they hate the team. They either hate the system you play, or how you play it. Usually rivalries come into play as well. For example, I hate Chicago and Boston, for obvious reasons.

4. Hockey is only interesting to certain nations. All I can say to this last question.

 

[Tiranis]

1. Why do people describe some players as "streaky scorers"?

Some players go on streaks where they score and have prolonged luls when they don't score and are useless. Guys that put up points in bunches, basically. Whereas on the opposite end there are guys who maybe don't ever dominate games but their scoring is spread out more consistently throughout the season. Doesn't mean you have to score every game to be non-streaky.

2. What the hell is a "bag skate"?

You skate from your red line to the blue line and back, then to the center ice and back, then to the opposition's blue line and back, then to the other red line and back. Repeat as many times as necessary. You have to do this at top speed.

Every sport has their own version of this.

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

And while we're at it Blob, why is a shot that hits the post not statistically considered a shot?

If a shot hits the net then it must have been on the net. Amirite?

 

[Hammer79]

In response to the last question, hockey costs a lot to play which cuts a lot of the world out. Ice rinks are expensive and the equipment costs a lot for players even if they are just getting started. Soccer has a similar concept, 2 nets, score goals on each others nets, but with a lot less cost to just start playing. All you need is a field and a ball. That's why soccer is popular world-wide, while hockey has a following concentrated in a few rich countries generally with cold winter climates.

 

[Fat Tony]

1. Why do people describe some players as "streaky scorers"?

Being streaky is statistically normal. What would be extremely unlikely is a 80 point player who got 1 point per game for 80 games. That's probably never happened. Streaky is the norm.

Why would one prefer the norm over someone who excels?

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Arguably the best example of a streaky scorer would be Alexi Kovalev. All the talent to cross into the elite threshold, yet laziness and horrid inconsistency have been a stable for his career. He will simply awe you in a few games, only to disappear for the next five.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

never mind.

 

[craigcaulks*]

3. Why do people (some people) dislike other teams so much? I love the Canucks and want them to win. But I like other teams and players too. For example, I have a big man-crush on Iginla. Always have.

While it's ok to have a mancrush, the Flames jersey is the equivalent of herpes sores, upstairs and down. I love Jessica Alba but I'd hate to get herpes from her. Especially if it was from just sharing a smoke.

 

[craigcaulks*]

Why is it so amusing to see the Leafs fail?

A great question really.

I hated the Leafs since I was young basically because of CBC always showing them. Many younger fans may not remember, but HNIC used to only be ONE game. It was almost never the Canucks. I guess it's grown from there, but I remember the first time I heard that the Leafs were the reason we didn't get an NHL in the original expansion. That made my dislike feel justified.

Now with the interweb, Leafs fans make the losing enjoyable.

 

[Verviticus]

I've been watching hockey for a long time, and like many people, I've played a little as well. Having said that, I have a few questions that I'd like answered.

What better way to get answers than to ask HF Boards?

1. Why do people describe some players as "streaky scorers"?

it's when people take data that suggests a player doesn't score consistently, or observations that a player plays differently from shift to shift, and ignore the fact that there are variations and randomness that make this difficult

read: http://battleofalberta.blogspot.ca/2008/03/on-consistency.html

Being streaky is statistically normal. What would be extremely unlikely is a 80 point player who got 1 point per game for 80 games. That's probably never happened. Streaky is the norm.

this is correct. this isn't to dispute that sometimes a player will score in bunches, or that a prolonged lull isn't related to a confidence issue or injury, but that some players are historically more consistent than others tends to be a mix of randomness and raw ability. people use stats from the past that aren't predicative to make predictions and statements about a player that aren't fair

3. Why do people (some people) dislike other teams so much? I love the Canucks and want them to win. But I like other teams and players too. For example, I have a big man-crush on Iginla. Always have.

tribalism

 

[IIHFjerseycollector]

4.

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

A bag skate is simply skating until your "bagged". This can be lines as mentioned before or any other skating generally at full speed.

When coaches bag skate often all they will do for that practice is skate the **** out of the players. No "fun" stuff with pucks etc.

As for trouble in the world. There are actually hockey teams in many hot spots. The middle east has several countries with teams.

 

[Shareefruck]

1. Why do people describe some players as "streaky scorers"?

Being streaky is statistically normal. What would be extremely unlikely is a 80 point player who got 1 point per game for 80 games. That's probably never happened. Streaky is the norm.

But being statistically normal does not mean that it doesn't make sense to call someone streaky.

Obviously everyone is streaky to some degree rather than inhumanly consistent, but it's all relative to your peers. If you're less consistent and more streaky than everyone else, you're going to be labelled as that.

That's like saying "Why do you call some people selfish? Everyone's selfish!"-- You're only given that label if your level of selfishness is disproportionate to everyone else.

 

[YogiCanucks]

Yeah the streaky scorer thing bothers me. There are basically no players that play on a consistent level and score 20-25 goals. They are basically, to a tee, players that if could play their best all the time would be 30-40 goal scorers or 10-15 goal scorers who got "good bounces".

 

[rypper]

Also it's called a bag skate because you skate your bag off.

 

[DL44]

And while we're at it Blob, why is a shot that hits the post not statistically considered a shot?

If a shot hits the net then it must have been on the net. Amirite?

notsureifserious... but i'll answer anyway..
a shot on goal is any shot that would go into the net if it wasn't saved/blocked etc...

You might as well have a net without a goalie if all the shots were to hit the posts. i.e. hitting the post is equal to missing the net by 20 feet.

 

[PG Canuck]

notsureifserious... but i'll answer anyway..
a shot on goal is any shot that would go into the net if it wasn't saved/blocked etc...

You might as well have a net without a goalie if all the shots were to hit the posts. i.e. hitting the post is equal to missing the net by 20 feet.

But it is technically 'on net', is it not?

 

[Tiranis]

But it is technically 'on net', is it not?

The posts are not the 'net', if you're going to get technical, so it's not 'on net'.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

A great question really.

I hated the Leafs since I was young basically because of CBC always showing them. Many younger fans may not remember, but HNIC used to only be ONE game. It was almost never the Canucks. I guess it's grown from there, but I remember the first time I heard that the Leafs were the reason we didn't get an NHL in the original expansion. That made my dislike feel justified.

Now with the interweb, Leafs fans make the losing enjoyable.

1. To expand a bit further, olden days style, when the Canucks first came into the league (and sucked) there were a lot of Leafs fans in Vancouver, both ex-pats and locals who had grown up with the Leafs as their favourite team. Through the '70's and '80's a Leafs game in Vancouver was almost like another home game for them. Which was annoying.

2. Thanks posters for educating me on "bag skates". I thought it was because they had to carry their heavy equipment bags with them as they did the skating equivalent of running the bleachers.

3. I always thought that hitting the post should be a shot on net. When I played goal, I felt that if someone hit the post, it was because I had done my job and left them nothing to shoot at.

 

[ddawg1950]

And while we're at it Blob, why is a shot that hits the post not statistically considered a shot?

If a shot hits the net then it must have been on the net. Amirite?

Plus, what's the deal with Ovaltine?

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

1. To expand a bit further, olden days style, when the Canucks first came into the league (and sucked) there were a lot of Leafs fans in Vancouver, both ex-pats and locals who had grown up with the Leafs as their favourite team. Through the '70's and '80's a Leafs game in Vancouver was almost like another home game for them. Which was annoying.

2. Thanks posters for educating me on "bag skates". I thought it was because they had to carry their heavy equipment bags with them as they did the skating equivalent of running the bleachers.

3. I always thought that hitting the post should be a shot on net. When I played goal, I felt that if someone hit the post, it was because I had done my job and left them nothing to shoot at.

Leafs, Canadians, Bruins, Wings always seemed to have a lot of fans at the Coliseum in 80s. Heck youd see jerseys from the lesser teams there.

 

[Eddy Punch Clock]

Plus, what's the deal with Ovaltine?

Gold Jerry!